The words that filled Rain's vision shifted once more, rearranging themselves with quiet purpose.
This time, it wasn't just text. Small icons appeared alongside the script — faint, hovering symbols arranged in a neat row before him, each resting within a translucent square that shimmered subtly against the forest backdrop.
Rain squinted, trying to make out the details, but they remained frustratingly small, almost distant, as though they were never meant to be examined too closely.
There were ten slots in total, yet only one was filled.
A single icon rested within the first space, dim but unmistakable against the surrounding emptiness.
Rain tilted his head slightly, curiosity stirring within him.
'What is that?'
Instead of simply observing it, he instinctively raised his hand and reached toward the floating symbol as though it were something tangible, something that could be grasped and claimed.
The moment his fingers brushed the air before it, something heavy materialized in his grasp.
Steel formed instantly in his hand — cold, solid, and undeniably real. The sudden weight nearly caused his fingers to slip, but he tightened his grip quickly, steadying himself as the object fully settled into his palm.
It was a sword.
A longsword made entirely of steel, unpolished and practical in design. Its balance felt slightly uneven, its craftsmanship crude, as though it had been forged in haste without care for refinement. Yet despite its flaws, it was solid and heavy enough that his arm felt the strain almost immediately.
It looked strangely similar to the blade the young man had been holding earlier.
Rain slowly stood to his feet and raised the sword, examining its length as light filtered through the forest canopy and reflected dully along its unfinished edge.
A faint smile touched his lips.
It felt strange to hold something like this — as though he had stepped into one of the medieval wars he had only ever read about, as though armored soldiers might emerge from the trees at any moment.
Before that thought could fully settle, new text appeared in his vision.
You wield a longsword.
Longsword — Rank: Worn
— Your weapon is truly horrid… forged in haste and without care.
— This blade will endure only the weakest of struggles.
— Pray it does not shatter when you need it most.
Rain's smile faltered slightly.
'Worn?'
'Truly horrid?'
The words felt less like simple information and more like quiet mockery.
Even so, Rain continued to smile as he held the weapon in his hands.
His heart raced wildly in his chest, not out of fear, but out of something far more unfamiliar — excitement. It was a thrilling, restless sensation that he had never experienced before, one that made his fingers tighten around the sword's grip despite the Tower's insult lingering in his vision.
He didn't even fully understand why weapons were necessary in the first place.
Why any of this was happening at all.
Why had they been brought here?
What was the purpose of the Tower?
What did it want from them?
His thoughts should have frightened him.
Instead, they ignited him.
Perhaps his heart was racing out of pure curiosity. Perhaps what truly thrilled him wasn't the weapon, nor the danger implied by the trial, but the mystery itself — the vast, unknown structure he had been summoned to.
Rain felt as though he stood at the edge of something enormous, something ancient and incomprehensible, and rather than shrinking back from it, he wanted to step forward.
He wanted to know more.
And for the first time in his life, uncertainty did not feel suffocating.
It felt intoxicating.
Suddenly, Rain heard a feminine scream tear through the forest air.
It was sharp. Raw. Panicked.
He turned toward the sound immediately.
A young woman burst from between the trees, stumbling toward the large group as though the forest itself were chasing her. She ran blindly, arms flailing slightly for balance, her breathing ragged and uneven.
Rain still sat beneath the tree, positioned a short distance away from the larger group.
Most of the others stiffened, unsettled by the desperation in her voice, but none moved to meet her halfway.
When she finally reached the crowd, she nearly collapsed into it, tears streaming down her face as she pointed a trembling finger toward the deeper parts of the forest.
"T-there's something over there," she stammered, struggling to control her breath. Her entire body shook as if the memory alone was enough to break her.
"N-no… it's more than just one thing. There were multiple… m-monsters."
A wave of uneasy murmurs spread through the group.
But just as quickly, someone laughed.
"Monsters? Ha! Yeah right."
A tall man with a broad build stepped forward, grinning dismissively. A few others joined in, their laughter brittle but eager.
"Hey, crazy lady," he added mockingly, "did you forget to take your meds or something? Monsters aren't real."
The woman flinched at the words but shook her head violently.
"I-I swear!" she cried, nearly shouting now as she pointed again toward the trees. "There were three… no, four! They were big… green skin… walking on two legs like humans!"
The more she described them, the more absurd it sounded to those who still clung to reason.
Some people shifted uneasily.
But most laughed.
After nearly a minute of her frantic insistence, the tall man scoffed loudly.
"Psh… fine," he said with exaggerated confidence. "How about I go check out these so-called green monsters myself?"
Her eyes widened in terror.
"No! Don't!" she pleaded. "They looked dangerous. No — they are dangerous! They had weapons!"
But he had already turned away.
With an annoyed sigh, he walked toward the direction she had pointed, disappearing into the dense forest without hesitation.
The group called after him.
He didn't respond.
Two full minutes passed.
Then, after nervous glances and muttered reassurances, two more people volunteered to follow him, determined to prove the woman wrong — or perhaps prove themselves brave.
They disappeared into the trees as well.
Five minutes passed.
The laughter had stopped.
The air grew heavier with every second.
Whispers replaced jokes. People shifted closer together without realizing it.
Finally, three more individuals, visibly tense but unwilling to appear cowardly, went in after the others.
They did not return.
And slowly… painfully… the truth settled over the group like a suffocating fog.
The woman had not been lying.
Panic began to ripple through the crowd, growing louder with each passing moment, until a large man raised his voice above the chaos.
"Men and women!" he shouted, trying to steady himself as much as them. "We must go into the deeper part of the forest together. We have to save them. Even if these so-called monsters are real… we can't just stand here and do nothing!"
His words hung in the air.
Heavy and desperate.
But before the large man's words could settle, someone else shouted from within the crowd.
"Are you crazy, old man? We aren't trained fighters! And even if we were, we don't have weapons. Do you seriously expect us to fight monsters — monsters with weapons?"
A wave of agreement erupted immediately.
"YEAH!"
Voices overlapped, rising in frustration and fear. The earlier panic twisted into something sharper — anger.
The large man faltered.
For the first time since speaking, doubt flickered across his face. His jaw tightened as though he were only now realizing how hollow his declaration had sounded.
His eyes wandered anxiously across the forest, searching for something — reassurance, perhaps. A sign. A solution.
And then he saw him.
A young male stood slightly apart from the densest part of the group.
White, faintly wavy hair fell over light blue eyes that seemed almost too calm for the situation. He was taller than most of those around him, yet there was an awkwardness to the way he held himself — as though he wasn't fully aware of the space he occupied.
He wore nothing impressive. Just a simple t-shirt and grey sweatpants, faintly stained with dirt.
Ordinary.
Unprepared.
But that wasn't what caught the man's attention.
It was the weapon.
The sword resting in the young male's hand.
"HEY!" the large man suddenly barked.
His voice cut through the noise of the crowd like a blade.
He pointed directly at Rain.
"How did you get that sword?" he demanded, his tone sharp and far from friendly.
The murmuring stopped.
One by one, heads turned.
Eyes widened.
Shock spread through the group as they noticed the steel glinting faintly in Rain's grasp.
In just a matter of seconds, the attention of nearly sixty frightened and increasingly angered people fell entirely on Rain.
A chill ran down his back, and it wasn't because of the missing people or even the man's demanding tone. It was the way they were looking at him. The suspicion in their eyes. The quiet blame forming behind their stares.
They were looking at him as if he were the problem.
As if the sword in his hand had somehow caused all of this.
Rain couldn't stop the thought from surfacing in his mind: if those first people who went after the so-called "monsters" had known about Essence… Inventory — if they had known where to find weapons — maybe they wouldn't be missing. Maybe they wouldn't already be dead.
The possibility twisted uncomfortably inside him.
A large part of Rain wanted to answer the man honestly. He wanted to explain. To tell them the truth about the words, the icons, and how the sword had simply appeared when he reached for it.
But then he remembered the young woman who had told him about it — the quiet warning in her eyes, and the way the man beside her had immediately grown irritated when she shared that information.
Was it supposed to be a secret?
Was this knowledge something not everyone was meant to know?
Rain slowly turned his head toward the pair.
They still stood beneath the same tree, slightly separated from the others. But now, like everyone else, they were staring directly at him.
And there was only one expression on their faces.
Fear.
Not fear of the monsters.
Fear of him speaking.
As if they knew something he didn't. As if they understood consequences he hadn't even begun to consider.
The moment Rain met their eyes, both of them gave a subtle, almost frantic shake of their heads.
Don't say anything.
That was what their expressions screamed.
And suddenly, Rain realized that whatever choice he made in the next few seconds would matter far more than he had initially thought.